Norwich officials say police station price tag all-inclusive

Friday

Oct 19, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 19, 2012 at 7:03 PM

One day after city leaders unveiled financing plans for a proposed $33.4 million downtown police station, Mayor Peter Nystrom said the price tag “includes every paper clip.” And officials are confident bids for the project will come in lower than the figure that will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot. On Wednesday, Comptroller Joseph Ruffo said homeowners with a $100,000 assessment can expect to pay a total of $1,800 over the 20-year life of the bond, or about $90 annually. The payment breakdown was incorrectly reported in Thursday’s edition of The Bulletin.

Adam Benson

One day after city leaders unveiled financing plans for a proposed $33.4 million downtown police station, Mayor Peter Nystrom said the price tag “includes every paper clip.”

And officials are confident bids for the project will come in lower than the figure that will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot. On Wednesday, Comptroller Joseph Ruffo said homeowners with a $100,000 assessment can expect to pay a total of $1,800 over the 20-year life of the bond, or about $90 annually. The payment breakdown was incorrectly reported in Thursday’s edition of The Bulletin.

“But from what I see around here, construction costs are coming in lower,” Ruffo said on Thursday.

And with an Aa2 bond rating that last November led to Norwich earning a 2.62 percent interest rate on $9.6 million in general obligation bonds — the lowest rate in the state — Ruffo and other project proponents are optimistic the 57,000-square-foot complex can be finished under budget.

“Nothing has happened financially to weaken us,” Ruffo said. “Obviously, you’re a product of the market, and right now, the rates have not fluctuated much off the mark from last year.”

If the project is approved by taxpayers, the former Sears building at 2-6 Cliff St. would be converted to house the police department in a facility more than double the size of the current station at 70 W. Thames St.

Donald Rivest, who lives on Old Canterbury Turnpike, said he agrees the city’s police department needs more room but said he can’t come to terms with the multimillion-dollar cost.

“I’d love to see it happen, but people are really hurting right now,” Rivest said. “I wish we could do it, but talking to individuals around town, everybody’s really feeling the crunch and with the economy the way it is right now, I just don’t see how we can do it.”

Bo Crouch, a longtime city resident, also said she’s not convinced the need for such an expensive new facility is immediate. Police Chief Louis J. Fusaro Sr. has said his agency has vastly outgrown its location and cannot provide adequate services to the public.

“A lot of people just think it’s not the right time at this point,” Crouch said. “I think there are ways to handle it without going to the top and trying to figure this out.”

And with home prices still recovering from the depressed economy, Crouch worries people will end up paying more than the estimates offered by City Hall.

“House prices are going down, so they’ve got a lot of homework to do before they get into this,” Crouch said.
Nystrom said the city is offering a “worst-case scenario” on the cost, so residents know exactly how much they’ll end up paying for to fund the venture.

“Our intention was to be totally inclusive. We wanted everything on the table,” he said.

Fusaro and Nystrom also defended the project’s lack of an attached retail component — something that recently built police stations in other communities have included.

“The point is to get vacant buildings filled in, not build something to compete with them,” Fusaro said. “We’re looking for a solution to our problem, not competition with the private sector.”

However, completing the facility will “reposition the concept of downtown,” Nystrom said.

“Our job is public safety, so if we’re going to ask voters to consider investing in a long-term legacy building, we’re not going to be putting a private sector element in there and ask people to pay for that too,” Nystrom said.

Norwich resident Nicholas Macko said he’s not ready to endorse the city’s vision of a police station in the heart of downtown.

“Not right there. They already have a perfect spot, right on the water,” he said of the department’s Thames Street location. “I think Norwich is sitting down, resting on their fingers too much. Somebody has really got to sit down and do some planning.”